The present invention relates to a method of editing annotation command data, an apparatus using this method, and a medium for storing data recorded by this method.
For handling multimedia data that needs to be processed by a computer, a system has been known which records voice and operations performed by a user and the result of operations and which plays back the recorded voice and operations in synchronization with each other. For example, a system is available which displays a medical image on a computer screen and records/replays annotations and voiced observations made by a doctor concerning the image during a remote consultation session. A system capable of transferring recorded observations of one doctor to another doctor has been reported (Computer Assisted Radiology, pp417-420 (1996)). For realizing such a system, a method is available which records or plays back voice in parallel with annotation. During recording, voice is recorded as continuous data and annotation command data and command execution timings are also recorded. During playback, the recorded voice is played back and at the same time the recorded annotation commands are executed in synchronization with the annotation timings. The voice and annotations can be synchronously recorded or played back by simultaneously starting their recording or playback.
In recording such commands along with the elapse of time, there may be a case where some commands are executed in advance to prepare for the recording. For example, an image to be referenced is displayed and under-goes some processing, such as enlargement, for ease of viewing before actually starting the recording. The processing performed prior to the start of recording may be stored in the form of commands so that it can be reproduced. These commands may, however, include redundant processing. For example, when the image is enlarged and then reduced, the enlargement is canceled by the reduction and therefore storing both enlargement and reduction steps is redundant. This problem is not addressed by conventional technologies. Further, when queries and answers are transmitted and received using multimedia data, the answers can be created as if the parties concerned are engaged in conversation, as by quoting the received query in his or her reply. To realize this requires editing such as insertion of command data into other command data. However, changing the sequence of command data for the editing may cause a problem that the final result (the image displayed at the end of the execution) of the edited command data is different from the final result of the original command data which is not edited.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of preparing an easily editable annotation command data.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of editing an annotation command data, carried on a medium, for annotating a to-be-annotated image.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a medium storing an annotation command data in the form of a data block including an initial state, a series of annotating commands and a starting time point of execution for each of the annotating commands.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of embodiments of the present invention made with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Term xe2x80x9cannotationxe2x80x9d used in the present invention is intended to mean various operations or manipulation results thereof such as display of a to-be-annotated image itself, termination of display of an image, addition of a pointer indicating a particular portion (such as a region of interest) of a to-be-annotated image on a display screen, movement of the pointer on the display screen, addition of a line (lines) and/or a character (characters) on the display screen on which a to-be-annotated image is displayed, and also changes of a display state of an image on the display screen (such as enlargement/reduction, a change of reproduction tone (brightness, contrast, color table) and/or filtering), which may be necessary to annotate a to-be-annotated image.
According to one aspect of the present invention, an annotation command data is prepared as follows: namely, an initial state for a to-be-annotated image is recorded on a first record area of a record medium, and then at least one command and a starting time point of execution for each of the at least one command are recorded on a second record area of the record medium, in which execution of the command is started at its associated starting time point of execution, the command being for annotating said to-be-annotated image, and the first and second record areas being associated in their location with each other to form a data block.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an annotation command data for annotating a displayed image is in the form of an original data block having a first data area holding an initial state for the displayed image and a second data area holding one or more commands and a starting time point of execution for each of the commands. Execution of each command is started at its associated starting time point of execution. For editing of the annotation command data, the original data block may be divided to produce therefrom plural secondary data blocks each having an initial state, a part of the one or more commands and a starting time point of execution for each of the part of the commands, so that one of the secondary data blocks is deleted, or a new data block having an initial state, one or more commands and staring time point of execution therefor is inserted between the secondary data blocks.